Wichita eagle., 1887-01-01
THE GREAT ROBBERY.

To the Editor of the Eagle.
While the papers are burdened with &C
counts of the shadowing and arrest of the
is putting on metropolitan airs because the
perpetrators were formerly residents of that
burg, memory naturally reverts to some
of the more noted robberies that have oc-
CURED during the present generation. The
exploits of the James gang are yet famil
lar stories, and in the great bond robberies
which took place in New York and Boston
some fifteen years ago, compromise was
either effected with the burglars and the Sc
curities recovered, or they were arrested
and convicted. But the originator and
leader in robbery where more currency
was obtained than was ever secured by
robbers in this country, at a single haul,
lives today flee man, was never punished
ard never compromised. More than this
he was walking the streets Of Wichita less
than thirty days ago, and though The Cos
siper had not seen the man for more than
twenty years, he recognized him in an in
slant
The robbery referred to took place in the
oil regions Of Pennsylvania in 1860, and
the victim was John Benninghoff, an old
Dutchman, who, fer many years had man
aged TO dig precarious livelihood out of a
barren hillside bordering on Oil Creek.
Buckwheat and beans were the staple pro
ducts. and wheaton bread was to
his family luxury unknown. But
when the oil development reached
his acres it was found that
untold wealth was concealed beneath them
Every hole poured forth fortune and the
Benninghoff farm proved one of the rich
est pieces of oil territory ever discovered,
and the royalties rapidly made its owner
immensely wealthy.
At that time the banking facilities of
that co untry were limited and oil was paid
for in currency brought in by express.
With a Pennsylvania DGtchman's distrust
of banks anyway. Benninghotf built an
addition 10 his LOG house, bought two large
safes, of which he carried the keys, hired
three watcbmen, armed his two sons and
generally turned the place into an arsenal.
In these receptaclcs he stored the cash re-
ceivcd from day to day.
Some forty miles distant, in the adjoin
ing county of Crawford there lived at the
village of Seagertown. a man named James
Stagcr He had been left considerable
fortune which he had squandered, and at
the beginning of the war entered the 10th
Pennsylvania reserves As lieutenant, but
Subsequently obtained commission
as quariermaSter. The close of hostilitieS
brought him home, poor IN purse and
reckless. and it was not long until lie
learned of the Bennington bonanza. He
took into his confidence well-to-do brew
or named Louis Waelde, shoemaker
named Miller, and two others whose names
The Gossiper has forgotten. all OF whom
implicitly followed his lead Rendezvous
ing near the BenninghofT house one
stormy night when the two sons
were absent at prayer meeting-they never
went to prayer meeting again-the old
man, the guards and the women were sud
denly overpowered. tied and gagged. as
were the sons on their return, and the safes
were emptied. They contained nearly
500 900 in greenbacks, national bank bills
aud some gold.
The plight of the family WAS discovered
/ by some driliers the next morning. but the
robbers had seven or eight hours start.
In'eLSe excitement followed and all the de
teciive talent in the country was spurred
on by tn reward Of $3.50. 600 offered 10y
Benninghoff for their arrest ard an equal
sum for the recovery of the money. The
] four subordinates returned 70 their homes
and were not suspected for weeks, though
Wholesale arrests were made in every direc-
| ton. but finally the shoemaker got drunk,
exhibited big roll of 81 coo bills and gave
the outfit away. Together with Waelsie
and perhaps the other two, he was sent TO
the penitentiary at Allegheny for term OF